Bruce Robert Mason (born 1945) OAM is a leading Australian sports scientist in the field of biomechanics. Between 1982 and 2014, he made a significant contribution to the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS) in the area of biomechanics, particularly in the sport of swimming.

Academic career

He was a graduate in mathematics from

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. In 1980, he graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

with a PhD in biomechanics. His thesis was titled ''A kinematic and kinetic analysis of selected parameters during the support phase of running.'' From 1980 to 1982, Mason was a Lecturer at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

Australian Institute of Sport

Mason was appointed the inaugural Head of

(AIS) Biomechanics department in 1982. In 1982, he was joined at the AIS by Dr Dick Telford, Co-ordinator of Sport Science, Dr Peter Fricker, Sports Physician, Craig Purdam, Physiotherapist and Jeff Bond, Sport Psychologist. In the early days of the AIS, Mason described his role a jack of all trades in biomechanics. He assisted golfers refine their swing and track and field athletes with their technique. As the AIS developed, he focussed on swimming. Mason and his team developed wet-plate analysis, which offers real-time assessment of athletes in the pool. Prior to the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, Mason worked withs swimwear maker Speedo's to develop its "Beijing suit", a superfast polyurethane-coated bodysuit. The swim suit became known as

LZR Racer The LZR Racer (pronounced as "laser") is a line of competition swimsuits manufactured by Speedo using a high-technology swimwear fabric composed of woven elastane-nylon and polyurethane. The swimsuits are made in body-length; they compress th ...

. In July 2009, FINA changed its rules was banned ban all body-length swimsuits due to the large number of world records being broken by the new high tech swimsuits. In 2006, Mason became Head of the AIS's Aquatic Testing, Training and Research Unit, a position that he held until his retirement in September 2014. During this period, Mason was responsible for designing $17million the AIS Aquatics Centre, which opened in 2007. The pool has a range of high-tech performance analysis devices and biomechanical systems including instrumented start blocks and turn walls, timing gates, filming trolleys and strategically placed cameras. Mason has worked with leading AIS swimmers including Olympic gold medallists

Petria Thomas Petria Ann Thomas, (born 25 August 1975) is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales, and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby. Career In 1993, at the a ...

, Michael Klim and

Alicia Coutts Alicia Jayne Coutts, (born 14 September 1987) is an Australian competitive medley, butterfly and freestyle swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2010 Commonwealth Games (New Delhi). Sh ...

. From the early 1990s to 2004, Mason worked with the Australian Swim Team including Olympic gold medallists Ian Thorpe,

Kieren Perkins Kieren John Perkins, OAM (born 14 August 1973) is a former Australian freestyle swimmer. He specialised in the 1500-metre freestyle and won successive Olympic gold medals in this event in the 1990s. He won his first at the 1992 Olympics which ...

, Grant Hackett,

Susie O'Neill Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career. Early life Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...

and Jess Schipper.

Recognition

*1998 and 1999 – Outstanding Contribution to Swimming in Australia by Australian Swim Coaches and Teachers Association. *2000 – Geoffrey Dyson Award of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports *2000 – Australian Sports Medal for services to sports science and medicine *2002 –

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) for service to sport, particularly through the application of biomechanics to swimming.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Bruce 1945 births Living people Australian sports scientists Australian scientists Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia University of Oregon alumni University of Sydney alumni